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Bite of Serpent

Cold douche, followed by friction.

Starch, wheat flour in water.

White of eggs, sweet milk.

Lemonade, strong, epsom salts.

Emetics-Cold douche, exercise, and heat.

Magnesia, in copious draughts.

Whites of eggs, sweet milk.

Apply fire in some form to the wound, thoroughly and immediately.

Ammonia, applied freely.

Same as for mad dog, followed by whisky to intoxication. The foregoing are the more common and more important poisons and their antidotes.

TO KILL EARTH-WORMS.-Ten drops of carbolic acid in a pint of water, poured over earth in flower-pots will kill all earth-worms. SURE SHOT FOR ROSE SLUGS. - Make a tea of tobacco-stems and a soap-suds of whale-oil or carbolic soap, mix, and apply to the bush with a sprinkler, turning the bush so as to wet the under as well as the upper part of the leaves; apply before the sun is up three or four times. IVIES. A Successful cultivator of ivies feeds them with iron and cod-liver oil; the iron in form of rusty nails, mixed into the earth. Another produced a luxurious growth by watering once a week with tobacco-water; making a tea of refuse tobacco-leaves and stems, or of coarse tobacco. The water from the washing of fresh beef is also of great benefit to ivies. Moisten the leaves with a sponge wet in tea, or put tea-leaves around the plant. TO KEEP PLANTS WITHOUT A FIRE AT NIGHT. - Have made of wood or zinc a tray about four inches deep, with a handle on either end, water-tightpaint it outside and in, put in each corner a post as high as the tallest of your plants, and it is ready for use. Arrange your flower-pots in it, and fill between them with sawdust; this absorbs the moisture falling from the plants when you water them, and retains the warmth acquired during the day, keeping the temperature of the roots even. When you retire at night spread over the posts a blanket or shawl, and there is no danger of freezing. The tray may be placed on a stand or table and easily moved about. WINDOW GARDENING. -All the varieties of English ivy, the hoyacarnosa, the passion flower, the jasmine, the pilogyne suavis, and begonias are especially suitable for window culture. Very pretty effects may be produced at the cost of a few cents, by planting verbenas, morning-glories, cobea scandens, and the maurandias in baskets or flower-pots, which may be concealed behind statuary or bronzes. The best fertilizer for them or any other house plants is that afforded by the tea-pot; the cold tea-grounds usually thrown away, if poured as a libation to these household fairies, will produce a miracle of beauty and perfume.

TO PREPARE AUTUMN LEAVES AND FERNS. - Immediately after gathering, take a moderately warm iron, smear it well with white wax, rub over each surface of the leaf once, apply more wax for each leaf; this process causes leaves to roll about as when hanging on the tree. If pressed more they become brittle and remain perfectly flat. Maple and oak are among the most desirable, and may be gathered any time after the severe frosts; but the sumac and ivy must be secured as soon after the first slight frost, as they become tinted, or the leaflets will fall from the stem. Ferns may be selected any time during the season. A large book must be used in gathering them, as they will be spoiled for pressing if carried in the hand. A weight should be placed on them until they are perfectly dry; then, excepting the most delicate ones, it will be well to press them like the leaves, as they are liable to curl when placed in a warm atmosphere; these will form beautiful combinations with the sumac and ivy. KEEPING CUT-FLOWERS FRESH. - Cut-flowers soon drop and fade. Here are some of the ways in which they are preserved: Add to the water a few drops of camphor or ammonia, a little salt, a lump of charcoal; immersing the stems in hot water when a bouquet is first made, and then as they commence to wilt repeating it, first cutting off the ends. Have a skillet or pan on (589) the stove with boiling water, in depth from half an inch to an inch, hold the stems in the boiling water for a few seconds, make into bouquets and place in water; or if you wish to send to a distance, pack in a box, and send by mail, or any way you wish. When placed in the water a little salt or a rusty nail dropped in helps to keep them fresh. In making bouquets, be careful not to crowd too many flowers into one vase. They will last longer, to say nothing about their improved appearance, if they stand loosely. Never use cold water. Let it be lukewarm, and soft if possible. Sprinkling flowers in vases at night will help to keep them fresh, and, better still, lay them out on the grass where they will receive the dew, being careful to take them in early in the morning in summer, before the hot rays of the sun have wilted them.

Flat bouquets, made in plates or glass platters, can be built up with a foundation of sand. Flowers will last much longer if their stems are thrust into wet sand than they will in water. The sand can be covered with moss , the flowers can be arranged in any fanciful shape that suits, and they will not be likely to become disarranged, for the sand holds them in place firmly. Instead of moss, leaves can be used to cover the surface and make a groundwork for the design, or bits of geranium branches, which often put out roots in the damp sand, and most of them grow right along as if nothing had happened to them. Very pretty designs may be made of tin about an inch in depth in diamond crosses, and letters, and then filled with sand and flowers. In making button-hole bouquets, or arranging flowers such as roses, camellias, etc., for the hair, cut the stems off at right angles and immediately apply hot wax to the end of the stock, then wrap in tin-foil, or to keep them, after applying the wax: place each one in a paper cone or cap so that the leaves do not touch the paper. The cap should be sealed up with glue to prevent air, dust or moisture from entering. When the glue is dry it should be placed in a cool place. When wanted, cut off the waxed end and place in water, where it will bloom in a few hours.

HOUSE PLANTS.-Plants that require a high or low temperature, or a very moist atmosphere, and plants that bloom only in summer are undesirable. Procure fresh sandy loam, with an equal mixture of well rotted turf, leaf mold and cow-yard manure, with a small quantity of soot. In repotting use one size larger than they were grown in; hard burned or glazed pots prevent the circulation of air. Secure drainage by broken crockery and pebbles laid in the bottom of the pot. An abundance of light is important, and when this can not be given, it is useless to attempt the culture of flowering plants. If possible they should have the morning sun, as one hour of sunshine then is worth two in the afternoon. Fresh air is also essential, but cold, chilling draughts should be avoided. Water from one to three times a week with soft luke-warm water, draining off all not absorbed by the earth. Do not permit water to stand in the saucers, as the only plant thriving under such treatment are calla lilies, and even for these it is not necessary unless while blooming. Dust is a great obstacle to the growth of plants; a good showering will generally remove it, but all the smooth-leaved plants, such as camellias, ivies, etc., should be occasionally sponged to keep the foliage clean and healthy. Plants succeed best in an even temperature ranging from sixty to seventy degrees during the day, with from ten to twelve degrees lower at night. If troubled with insects put them under a box or barrel and smoke from thirty to sixty minutes with tobacco leaves. For the red spider, the best remedy is to lay the plants on the side and sprinkle well or shower. Repeat if necessary. The soil should be frequently stirred to prevent caking. If manures are used give in a liquid form. Some of the most suitable plants for parlor culture are pelargoniums, geraniums, fuchsias, palms, begonias, monthly roses, camellias, azaleas, oranges, lemons, Chinese and English primroses, abutilons, narcisus, heliotrope, stevias, bouvardias, petunias, and the gorgeous flowering plant poinsettia pulcherrima. Camellias and azaleas require a cooler temperature than most plants, and the poinsettia a higher temperature. Do not sprinkle the foliage of the camellias while the flowerbuds are swelling, as it will cause them to droop, nor sprinkle them in the sunshine. They should have a temperature of about forty degrees and more shade. By following these rules, healthy flowering plants will be the result.-J. S. Robinson.

THE CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS. - When plants are frosted sprinkle with fresh cold water, and place under a box or something that will exclude the cold water, and place under a box or something that will exclude the light and prevent too great a change in temperature. Keep them thus for two days. After sprinkling, be careful to put them where they will not chill again. Horse-manure , two years old, is best for carnations. For begonias good drainage is indispensable . The whole family thrive in a compost of one-half loam and one-half leaf-mold with a slight portion of sand. From September to February give pelargoniums only enough water to keep them from wilting; then water freely, and when they begin to bud, apply a little liquid-manure, or add ammonia to the water twice a week. Double geraniums should be kept in small pots, as they will not bloom well until the roots become compact. They require a higher temperature than the single varieties. During warm weather , the foliage of fuchsias should be well sprinkled every evening to prevent its becoming seared too early. To obtain plants of the greatest beauty in form and color, plenty of light and space is essential. Do not allow the foliage of one plant to overshadow another. - Mrs. Prof. F. Wood.